What’s With Mic Problems on the N900?

The latest in the debacle that is the Nokia N900 launch (I STILL do not have mine yet, and it’s been almost 2 months) is a microphone issue that has cropped up on certain handsets. Doesn’t sound so bad at first, right?

Unfortunately, the problem prevents the phone from receiving any kind of audio, including voice calls. Which means…you basically can’t use your N900 as a phone. Drat the luck!

The mic issue is a little complicated, however. You might have a defective N900 (hardware issue), or you might have a more minor software issue that can be fairly painlessly solved.

The first thing you should do, other than verifying that you have the problem, is reboot your N900. There’s a bug in the FM radio application which disables microphone input until the phone is rebooted, and this could be your problem. If this solves it, you’re in luck.

If a reboot doesn’t fix it, the next step is a reflash. Grab the latest version of Nokia Software Updater, fire it up, search for new firmware, and then reinstall the current firmware. This seems to have helped a decent amount of people with the problem.

And by this point, if the reflash failed to solve the problem, you’ve probably gotten a defective N900, for which the only solution (right now) is to return it to the retailer OR use Nokia’s warranty service. I’d recommend going through the retailer channels first, since they’re probably quicker than Nokia. But keep in mind that you might have to deal with current out-of-stock issues – in other words, it may take more time to get your replacement device.

While the mic issue doesn’t seem particularly widespread, it’s definitely another blow to a device that I’d label as Nokia’s best hope – at least if it wasn’t marred by delays and stock issues.

To any users with the mic problem, you might find this talk.maemo.org link useful. It’s the maemo thread where the problems were first reported and any new developments should show up there.